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Committee deletes state funding for AG firearm detection pilot after reliability and procurement questions
Summary
The Senate Ways and Means committee removed $20 million in proposed state funding for a private vendor firearm‑detection program that the House had included; committee members expressed concerns about vendor reliability, false alarms and the fact the attorney general's office did not request the funding.
The Senate Committee on Ways and Means voted to delete $20 million in proposed state funding for a private‑vendor firearm detection program that had been included in the House substitute budget, citing concerns about procurement, vendor reliability and timing.
Senator Peck moved to delete $7,000,000 SGF in FY2025, $7,000,000 in FY2026 and $6,000,000 in FY2027 — a total of $20,000,000 — that the House had placed in the substitute for House Bill 2007 for a firearm detection program. The motion was seconded and adopted by the committee.
Why it matters: The funding would have supported procurement by the Attorney General’s Office of a private‑sector firearm detection service for public entities, including schools. Committee members raised evidence of false positives and questioned whether the technology is sufficiently reliable. Members also noted the Attorney General’s Office had not requested the funding.
Committee comments: Senator Peck argued the technology has produced false positives in other states — for example, alarms triggered by shadows or a student’s arm — and that bringing the program online under the budget calendar would be unlikely to yield a reliable deployment by the end of FY2025. After discussion, committee members agreed to remove the House funding from the Senate budget position; the matter remains conferenceable.
Outcome: Motion to delete firearm detection funding — moved by Senator Peck; seconded and adopted by committee voice/record vote. The House position retains the funding, so the item will be conferenceable.
